Lung carcinoma-reactive antibodies isolated from tumor tissues and pleural effusions of lung cancer patients.

Low pH elution techniques were used on lung cancer tissues and pleural effusions of lung cancer patients to dissociate antigen-antibody complexes. The immunoglobulins obtained were assayed by indirect immunofluorescence against tissue cultures and fresh cell suspensions of various target cells; they reacted positively, in significant titers, with cells of squamous cell carcinomas and adenocarcinomas of the lung but not with cells of normal adult and fetal lung or of nonpulmonary tumors. Immunoglobulins, similarly dissociated from tumor effusions of other organs, showed no reactivity in indirect immunofluorescence tests against lung carcinoma cells.